Derek and Kristin - Prince George Wedding Photographer

She was ready....ready for the day to begin and for their life together to officially start.  We came through the door of her parent's house and she was sitting there calmly waiting for what was next. And what was next was the photos! Kristin was cool and composed as she got into her wedding dress and that attitude of being relaxed carried through the whole day.  A great way to shoot a wedding when the couple is sooooo relaxed.

They had met online and had their first date at Tim Horton's (ironically where she was currently employed!) and never looked back.  Their's is a relaxed and calm kind of love.  The kind where you don't have to pretend or make the other guess what's going on. The kind where one balances the other perfectly and takes care when things don't go as planned.

Lisa and I had a great day hanging out with Derek and Kristin and their family and friends.  There were funny and poignant moments throughout the whole day, I found myself laughing at various points of the day as Derek completely trashed my first impression of him being a quiet and reserved guy.  He knows how to let loose and I was glad to see how well he could make Kristin laugh.  Making your wife laugh is a great gift to have... it's a sign of good times ahead!!

During his toast, Derek thanked Kristin for agreeing to meet him at Tim Horton's and I was thankful for that too! Otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know this great couple.

Congratulations Derek and Kristin. I hope that Hawaii was all you imagined!

Enjoy this sneak peek!

Ron and Melinda and Family - Houston Family Photographer

I was in grade 9 and was attending my very first YQ ("BIG" youth event in southern Saskatchewan)  I was the only girl in my youth group attending and was rather nervous about spending the weekend by myself amidst 2000 other high school students.  But I didn't need to worry for long.... I met up with 2 other girls staying in my room with me and they became my lifeline for those 52 hours we spent together.  Melinda and this other girl and I attended rallies, hockey and volleyball games, danced at concerts, followed cute boys around the campus and generally had a great time together all the while knowing that we'd probably never ever meet again.

All I could remember years later was that she was from Houston, BC.  Funny thing? My parents moved to Houston over 3 years ago and one of the first people they introduced me to was Melinda..... Melinda.. the girl from YQ! Small small world I have to say.  She spends a fair amount of time hanging out with my parents and her children have almost become surrogate grandchildren for them.  Their closest grandkids live 8 hours away so someone has to fill that need for them!

Anyways, I spent some time with Ron and Melinda and their boys a few weeks ago at Melinda's parent's place (GORGEOUS!!!!).  It was the only rainy day amidst 2 weeks of straight sun.. go figure! So the ground was wet (which I learned while laying down to get that "perfect" shot)... BUT in spite of the dismal day we had a great time exploring the property.

Thanks Ron and Melinda and boys for sharing some of your time with me... I can't believe that after 20 years Melinda and I could pick up where we left off. A few things have changed.  A crowd of 2000 doesn't intimdate me anymore, in fact it's invigorating! I still sit and watch hockey games and love to dance at concerts (just ask Tys and Ry!).  But the biggest change is that we don't follow cute boys around anymore, we caught them! Oh wait.... we're not following cute boys anymore, we're chasing after our own... and they are keeping us busy hey Melinda?:-)

I've still got space for fall photo shoots. If you are interested in updating your walls check out http://www.ckoop.com/ and click on the contact page!



I'm not too sure what Melinda is laughing at here. It may be because of her missteps leading her to walk through a fresh cow manure whilst trying to situate herself for that perfect pose.  She was a great sport and finished up even though the cow manure fresh-o-meter was off the charts.  She ended up taking off her flats and rolling up her pants.... true northern girl! I love it!!  I could have shot her for a waaaay longer time... isn't she beyoutiful?

 

"Hey you... girl.... come here and look at this!" Was the phrase I heard several times during the photo shoot. It seemed that I "needed" to see different things.  I laughed at the hey girl thing (note not hey lady or ma'am but girl... nice!). 

 Ron works in the forestry industry and I had to laugh when I heard him prodding Ryan to say... wait for it..... SKIDDER!!! A true northern boy!

Swanson Family - Prince George Family Photographer

The Swanson's were family... are family to us.  Lori and I became friends rather quickly and bonded over our Saskatchewanyness (yes... that's a new word I just made up... deal with it... I like it!).  We reminisced over sunsets, northern lights, Midtown Plaza, and general prairie girl stuff.  We both missed the prairies for different reasons, but we still bonded.

And because we both lacked relatives in PG, we decided that we'd become eachother's PG family.  Birthdays, holidays, special dinners were shared together and the bond grew even deeper. So much so that our children started to fight like they were siblings!  Funny..... but annoying.  Therefore it was hard to say goodbye to our PG family, and I'm still trying to convince Jim that moving to Calgary would be a GREAT idea. I'm sure the Calgary Herald needs a new sports editor! :-)

They let me crash at their place a couple weeks ago while I was up shooting a wedding and we found a little time to squeeze in some family photos. It was great catching up with them and being able to come and go made it feel like I hadn't left PG.

 It was the only rainy day during my whole trip and since I was leaving right after the shoot we had no options to postpone/delay.  They were troopers and withstood a little rain and wet grass so I could attempt to get some good shots.  And I wasn't disappointed!

Love love LOVE this shot! Can't say why, just love it!

The next photo is a typical Rachie face... too funny!!!

Such sweet smiles!

I think this may be my favorite from the afternoon.  Just some Swanson family love!

Berg Family - Prince George Family Photographer

"You can walk anywhere in our yard, BUT..... maybe don't go over there, because that's where the bears are." WaHuh? Bears? IN the yard?

Yup, you read that right and I heard it right. And to top it off, I had come right near dusk. BUT I knew that this wasn't going to be a quiet crowd, I felt quite confident that the bears would have absolutely no desire to hang out with us.

Todd and Jenny are friends of mine from our old church and it was good to catch up with them while I shot. This family knows how to have laugh and how to have fun together. Jenny homeschools their 4 children and it sounds like a blast! Joe, their youngest son continually pointed out locations to use and ideas to try during the hour and a half we spent together. I tried most of his suggestions, but decided to forego the one where we would tie up his older sister to a post and make her free herself. Apparently that is a favorite pastime of the kids.... what a hoot! That is something I never thought of growing up with my sisters. Sure I did some mean stuff to them, but it never involved tying them up. BUT we also never tried to recreate Joan of Arc like they did.

It was a fun time together and was a great start to what was a weekend full of photo shoots.

They had this great play area (okay basically the whole yard), I loved this ladder they'd made on the trees. Incidentally the bear zone was just to the right of this. At least we had something sturdy to climb if we needed!

I think that this is my favorite photo of the evening. We didn't get a typical fall evening, which is usually full of lots of warm light filling up the trees making everything a beautiful golden color, but still got some autumn in the background!